The tale of Genji, Chapter 4: Evening Faces

This is a long chapter, but it is very attractive. Evening face, refers to a pure flower shown in the story, also refers to the mysterious lady, which is the main character of this story. As the name shown, evening indicates the end of the day. It also indicates the end of the mysterious lady's life and the love between Genji and her.

Once, Genji goes to visit his old nurse, a procedure which involves a great deal of weeping by everyone, plus much commenting on how utterly perfect, gorgeous, and wonderful Genji is. Genji is attracted by the perfect foreheads of women in the neighborhood, and he exchanges poems on a fan with a mysterious lady. Later, Genji runs off with the mysterious lady, who seems sweet and shy. Actually, she's not all that passive, because since Genji refuses to tell her his name, she refuses to tell him hers. So they are having this nice affair, when suddenly this mysterious lady died.

The death of the mysterious lady drives Genji to distraction. Genji makes sure she gets a proper funeral, then he collapses from the stress and grief, and is ill for quite some time.

The puerility, simplicity, and early death of this young mysterious lady make her looks like a spirit in the story. She is such a pure lady without jealous, veteran, and vicious personalities. I think that's the reason why Genji loves her, and misses her even though she died for years.

♥Family Love♥

The most important factor about the world I live in is family love. Family love is a special feeling especially between falimy members. They love each other no matter they are rich or poor, healthy or sick, or even good or evil. My friends always ask me a question, "Will you stay here or go back to China after your graduation?" Every time I will think about my parents. They will become old and I cannot left them at home lonely. Parents love their children, both strength and weakness. His parents will love him extremely more if a boy is deaf and blind. Yet, love between men and women is different. Lovers love each others strength, like appearance, money and social positions.

Parents love their children for a long time from their birth to next generations. I can still remember the year of 2008 when I went back home to get my surgery of head, my parents left their jobs to take care of me in the hospital for a whole month. I am a timid guy who even afraid of taking shots, but when my parents touch my hands, I feel full of courage. However, when the doctor took a piece of bone of my head, my parents cried. At that time, I feel love. Family is the greatest power in my world. Even now, when I meet some troubles, my parents will always give me power.

Money, reputation and social positions are certainly something which are often discussed in today's world. Hardly a day goes by without the subject of money being raised in most people's lives. However, it is highly debatable wether it is more important than other considerations, such as love and happiness. A lot of young people in this world, left their homes and go to metropolis to get education and jobs. They follow their greams to live better, and they may not go back home for saving tickets' money or for intense competition. Of course they may make more money than that at home, however, they lose the chances to enjoy family love, and left their parents feel lonely at home.

Different people have different dreams. For me, I don't eager for much money, but happiness, and family love is a bid part of my happiness. It is the longest, the biggest, and the pure love in my world. All of my proud and fame, are based on my falimy.

Antigone (Revision)

After I re-read the story Antigone, I feel this is a very good story. In this story, the wirter depicts many people's death, and there is some valuable meaning behind each person's death. That's the reason why tragedy is the process that valuable things were ruined. Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written before 442 B.C. The main character Antigone is the play's tragic heroine. She has a boyish physique, and her fratemity with her brother Polynices make her die.

In this play, Antigone appears as a young girl who rise up alone against state powers. She has two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, and they killed each other in a battle. The King Creon banned a decree that nobody can bury Polynices. However, Antigone, ignore the decree and follow the god's rule to bury her brother. Unlike her docile sister Ismene, Antigone is recalcitrant. She was trying to persuade her sister to bury their brother, but Ismene refused.

Creon, the king, killed Antigone, and his son Haemon died besides his dead lover Antigone. Haemon loves Antigone strongly. When he knows that his father, Creon, captures Antigone, he threats Creon that he will commit suicide if Antigone was killed. Finally, this warning did not working, and both Antigone and Haemon were died.

 After their death, Haemon's mother Eurydice died without saying a word. The lost of son makes her feel so hard to express her feelings and passions. I can tell she loves her son. When she knew that Haemon was dead, she killed herself right away.

This is a tragedy because that all valuable things were dismissed, and the love make more people die. Finally, Creon lost all his familes, suffered the loneliness and punishments which were made by himself.

The Love Between Sakuntala and Dusyanta ( Revision)

The drama Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection is telling a story about the love between Sakuntala and the King Dusyanta. These two main characters have an unintended meeting at the beginning, then they fall in love, and the story expands with their love relationships. As many of my classmates' blogs write, this story is to praise for the sincere love between Sakuntala and Dusyanta. Sakuntala is  naive, brave, and beautiful. She is a symbol of the drama of all virtues. This story also praise for the King Dusyanta, but I think he is a more complex image, and I want to talk about my understanding of Dusyanta's personal qualities through his love to Sakuntala.

Dusyanta is a wise king who is a valiant fighter and a responsible man in this story. He has the courage to pursue his love and to bear his own mistakes. But as a king, he likes to have fun, and outrageous debauchery. At the beginning, Dusyanta pursues the beauty of Sakuntala to meet his own personal desires. From the first part of the play, we can see the unfaithful quality of Dusyanta from conversation with BUFFOON, "You are like the man who loses his taste for dates and prefers sour tamarind! How can you abandon the gorgeous gems of your palace?" "So she is the reason you reject other beauties!"(P1285) These conversations show the king Dusyanta is divided in mind. In addition, another purpose of Dusyanta to fall in love with Sakuntala is to give birth to a holy son to pass his thrown. Therefore, the love of Sakuntala and Dusyanta is superficial at this time.

At the same time, even though Dusyanta loves Sakuntala strongly, it is limited. He is the king who has power, but he did not challenge the caste system. So, he is so happy that Sakuntala has the same caste as him, and he will not pay any additional cost to get Sakuntala's love.

After I read this play, my understanding of Sakuntala and Dusyanta's love is that the love Dusyanta shows to Sakuntala is limited, and the love is not totally pure and true. The love of Dusyanta is mixed with the personal interests and secular norms.

The Love Between Sakuntala and the King Dusyanta

Sakuntala and the King Dusyanta are the main characters of the drama Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection. The story starts with an unintended meeting of Sakuntala and Dusyanta, and it expands with their relations, especially the love relationships. The basic theme of this drama is to praise for their sincere love and eulogize Sakuntala who is naive, brave, and beautiful. Also, it includs some praise for the King Dusyanta. Sakuntala is an idealized image of the writer, and she is a symbol of the drama of all virtues. However, the King Dusyanta is a more complex image. So, I want to talk about his personal qualities through his love to Sakuntala in the following paragraphs.

The writer wants to portray Dusyanta as a wise monarch who is both a valiant fighter and a handsome, passionate and responsible man. He has the courage to pursue his love, also has the courage to bear his own mistakes. But as a king, he likes to have fun, and outrageous debauchery. It's better to say he pursues the lovely appreance of Sakuntala than pursues of love (at least not at the first). At the first, Dusyanta pursues the beauty of Sakuntala to meet his own personal desires. From the beginning of  the play, we can see the unfaithful quality of Dusyanta from conversation with BUFFOON, “You are like the man who loses his taste for dates and prefers sour tamarind! How can you abandon the gorgeous gems of your palace?" "So she is the reason you reject other beauties!" (P1285) These conversations show the King Dusyanta is divided in mind. The main reason Dusyanta likes Sakuntala is the incredible beauty she has, and this is the king's primitive and most essential impulses-not because of Sakuntala's implication shown manifested in language or behavior. In addition, the purpose of Dusyanta to fall in love with Sakuntala is not for "the happiness of both parties", but simply to give birth to a holy son to pass his thrown. Therefore, the love of Sakuntala and Dusyanta did not show a higher level of moral issues.

Meanwhile, despite the love of Dusyanta is strong, but it is also limited. Even though he is the king, he still cannot challenge the caste system. So, from the beginning, when he knows that Sakuntala has the same caste as him, he performs overjoyed-he will not pay any additional cost to get Sakuntala's love. As the King says " I once made love to her. Now she reproaches me for loving Queen Vasumati. Friend Madhavya, tell Hamsapadika that her words rebuke me soundly." (P1303) However, to this complaint, the king is very dismissive.

At last, the king did not show as a responsible man. He is vaguely perfunctory and capricious. He defaults the duty to what he has done. The king says "even if I admit, I cheat on her, what will happen?" This is such a blatant and shameless confession. We can see the ugly heart of Dusyanta from what he is talking about.

From the above, I can draw such a conclution (of course this conclusion is not the writer to convey to us, but I try to figure out from the drama), the love that Dusyanta shows to Sakuntala is limited, and the love is not totally pure and true. The love of Dusyanta is mixed with the personal interests and secular norms. From the viewpoints about love of the King Dusyanta and his personal qualities, I know that this kind of love is not that strong, and it's not for the happiness of both parties.

Lysistrata

I have read several ancient literary works in this class. Among these stories, Lysistrata is my favourite. Unlike Gilgamesh and Bhagavad-Gita, Lysistrata describes the "battle" between women and men, which indicates the relationship between women and men. the Lysistrata is a story that talks about an Athenian woman who have taken control of the Acropolis in Athens. They are pretesting against the endless wars that men are fighting and refuse sex with their husbands unless they stop the battles.

The relation between men and women is always a topic people talk about. Compare to present day standards, Athenian women were only a little bit better than slaves. From birth a girl was not exprected to learn how to read or write, nor was she expected to earn an education. Their father controlled them before they were married, and their spouse controlled them once they were married. However, in the play, the women demand the end of war and they take action. Also, a contingency of elderly women take over the Acropolis and fight off the opposing force of elderly men. So, I think Aristophanes worte this story because he wants this happen that someday women can do something by themselves. In fact, in ancient Athens, the idea that women can stop a war or that they can organize themselves is just a humor. Women were seen as the property of men, so how can they protest against their "property owners".

It is hard to say this world is dominate by men, without women, history will stop quickly. In the end of the Lysistrata, the men are desperate for sex and they give up to fight the battles. A messager from the Spartan arrives and ask for peace talking. The Spartan and Athenian delegates arrive to talk terms for peace. Lysistrata was scolding for both parties' errers and the peace terms were confirmed quickly. The night was end up with celebration party and the men and women were dancing together. I think this ending is what Aristophanes wants. The story shows that without any men or women, this world will not work great. Only when men and women work together equally and harmony, everything will have a happy ending like Lysistrata.

The Tragedy of Antigone

Tragedy is the process that the valuable things to be ruined. Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written before 442 B.C. The main character Antigone is the play's tragic heroine. At the beginning, Antigone is opposed to her glowing sister Ismene. Unlike her docile sister, Antigone is recalcitrant. She has a boyish physique and curses her girlhood.

As I said, the valuable thing of this play is that Antigone appearing as the young girl who rise up alone against state power. Antigone has two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, and they killed each other in a battle. The king Creon banned a decree that nobody can bury Polynices. However, Antigone, ignore the decree and follow the god's rule to bury her brother. She was trying to persuade her sister Ismene to bury their brother, but Ismene refused.

In the end, Antigone's tragedy rests in her refused to cede on her desire. Against all prohibitions and without any just cause, she will bury her brother to the point of her own death. As we learn in her confrontation with Creon, this insistence on her desire locates her in a line of tragic heroes. In refusing to cede it, she moves outside the human community. She thought the death would be a glory. She said "I will lie with the one I love and loved by him-an outrage sacred to the gods! I have longer to please the dead than please the living here."

Antigone was killed by Creon because she against the rules. Creon not meant to kill Antigone, but he has his own rule, and he needs to use that rule to regulate his people. This is a tragedy, because the upper level god's rule and the lower level human rule exist at the same time. It is hard to find the balance how to obey both of them.

The Bhagavad Gita with modern business!

This week, I read The Bhagavad Gita. The Bhagavad Gita is the essence of Hinduism and a part of Mahanharata. It teaches the non-sectarian universal spiritual philosophy on the metaphysical science of the highest Reality. The Bhagavad Gita was generated because of the war, and it has influences of the modern society.

Nowadays, we do not have much original wars between nations, however, the competition between companies sometimes seem like wars. Although The Bhagavad Gita is a religious book, but many business leaders can still learn to understand that a lot of business intelligence.

For example, Krishna as God in the process, have deep moral confusion, and finally beyond the physical with the spiritual power, and get out of the monumental achievements of outside interference. The course of their deity can be explained by love, action, meditation, knowledge of the importance of the leader to understand how they can make regardless of outside interference and emotional responsibilities placed on the real personal wealth before, and finally becomes a successful career. 

In the "Bhagavad Gita" chapter eight, it has this to say: "efforts in the practice of yoga, the mind is not directed to any external things and thinking about the sacred concept of the supremacy views will certainly achieve the unity of living beings and individulized soul. This gives business leaders a lesson that: in the business career, thousand of problems continue to emerge, only to maintain inner calm and peace can not be affected by difficulties and ultimately, overcome them. 

"Bhagavad Gita" advocates that people should fulfill their duties to promote, rather than just look at the results. All in all, "Bhagavad Gita" emphasizes business leaders to promote themselves, including their own businesses. They better to centralize their power to make the business strong and powerful, rather than in competition with others by external stimuli.

Hanuman in Ramayana！

Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India. Through the whole book it describes the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife and the ideal king.

After reading Ramayana, especially book 4 and book 6, I find that Hanuman is my favorite character in this book. In the ancient Chinese myth “Journey to the West", it has a same character like Hanuman whose name is Sun Wukong. Wukong and Hanuman both were born of nature, and they have a supernal power. Wukong helps his master, Xuanzang to reach the east. During the journey, they suffered many difficulties, and Wukong always helps his master to fight against the evil spirit. Also, Hanuman did the same thing. He helps Rama to indicate his wife Sita, and helps them to fight in the battle with Ravana.

In India, Ramayana influences people for thousand years, every Indian knows the stories, and they adore the heros in this book. Hanuman is the popular one for the normal citizens. They made statues of Hanuman everywhere. In book 4 of Kishkindha Kanda, Rama and his brother meet Hanuman, and Hanuman introduced Rama to Sugriva, the monkey king. Rama befriends Sugriva and helps him by killing his elder brother Vali thus regaining the kingdom of Kiskindha, in exchange for helping Rama to recover Sita. In book 6 Yuddha Kanda, it describes the battle between the forces of Rama and Ravana. Rama and Lakshmana proceed with their allies towards the shore of the southern sea since they know Sita is there. The monkeys named "Naal" and "Neel" build a bridge across the ocean, and the princes and their army cross over to Lanka. Rama and Lakshmana were injured during the battle, and Hanuman bring the holy mountain which has the herb to help the princes, then bring the holy mountain back. At the end, Roma killed Ravana, and he installs Vibhishana, the brother of Ravana on the throne of Lanka.

During the whole book, Hanuman is the one who always has the power to help Rama. He plays an important part in locating Sita and in the ensuing battle. In my opinion, people adore Hanuman because of his braveness and wittiness.

Teaching Notes!

The Analects were written by Confucius's pupils during the period 30 to 50 years after his death. In the Analects, Confucius presents himself as a "transmitter who invented nothing." He puts the greatest emphasis on the importance of study, and today I will analysis the thoughts arise in the Analects which concern with studying.
First of all, Confucius thinks the most important thing about studying is the attitude. The Master said, "They who know the truth are not equal to those tho love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it." Only if people love it and feel happy about it, they can learn it very well. The Master also said, "When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teacher. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them." Anybody in this world has the advantages others may not have, so, be unambitious to learn from others is a good attitude to study.
Secondly, about the methods of studying. The Master said, "Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous." This lesson instruct students that they should combine the learning and thinking together, and they should do some practice after studying.
Thirdly, about the contents of studying. Confucius claims that the contents of studying should be extensive. There are four things he sets as his outline of studying-letters, ethics, devotion of soul, and truthfulness. He teaches knowledges, also teaches his students to keep good personality such as morality, loyalty and faithfulness. These four things are important to others and to the students themselves.
Fourthly, about the purpose of studying. The Master said, "The leaving virtue without proper cultivation; the not thoroughly discussing what is learned; not being able to change what is not good; -these are the things which occasion me solicitude." If people did not build their morality and did not review the lessons they learned, that's the thing we are worried about. If people heard about the right thing and they cannot do it, or have the mistakes which cannot be correct, that's also the thing we should worried about. From this point, we know that the purpose of studying is not to memorize the books, and the purpose is to practice the knowledge we have learned from books.
The Analects has concerned about many aspects of the culture, literature, and philosophy about ancient China. I analysis one aspect about how to study. It shows the relationship between learning and practicing, and the pursue of truth and morality. The Analects helps teachers to educate a lot of students who are both knowledgable and virtuous.

Confession of Love, but restraint！（update Fishhawk）

The poem "Fishhawk" has a very special position in Chinese literature. It is the first poem of the "Classic of Poetry" which is the first literary work in Chinese civilization. I choose to analyze this short poem, because it is considered as the foundation of Chinese literature. It also influences the history, philosophy, literary, society, and culture of early Chinese.

The ancient Chinese attached importance to the Doctrine of the Mean(a text rich with symbolism and guidance to perfecting oneself). The guiding principle of the mean being that one should never act in excess. "Fishhawk" reveal this thought perfectly. First, the love between male and female is natural and normal. The repetition of "gental maiden, pure and fair" throughout the poem creates a feeling that the maiden is indeed yearned for by the prince. The words "waking and sleeping" shows prince deeply loves the maiden and wanted to be alongside her. In the Mao Commentary(The annotation by Han Dynasty scholar Mao Heng and his nephew Mao Chang), they considered the family as a basic unit of the society, and the harmony of the family is so important to the harmony of the society. So the pure love which like the love between those two fishhawks is praised highly by the ancient Chinese. Secondly, even though the prince love the maiden deeply, he did not touch the maiden directly throughout the poem. The prince cannot fall a asleep, but he did not talk to the maiden directly, he plays "bells and drums, do her delight." In the Analects of Confucius, he thought desire between male and female may make people to act unreasonable. It has the risk to make the society chaos, so he encourage people to act abstemiously. This poem commend people to restrain their emotions, act carefully, and enjoy a love which has a purpose of marriage.

"Fishhawk" was arranged at the beginning of Chinese literature, the thought of the Doctrine of the Mean in this poem influenced the Chinese people for thousand of years!

Fishhawk

Fishhawk is the first of the Classic of Poetry which contained three hundred and five poems. This poem is short, and it has a very important position of the Chinese literature. It is considered as the foundation of the Chinese literature. I am interested in this particular poem because this short poem can be interpreted in many different ways. According to the Mao Commentary, Confucians think this poem display the guideline for harmony of the household in ancient China. In the Zhou Dynasty, the Wen King searched for a maiden, in order to show her faithfulness in her marriage, the Queen allowed Wen King to search another maiden. Also, there is another point of view shows the speaker of the poem feel blue about the situation of helplessness, and it also compare his faithless marriage with the pure affection of the two fish hawks. The use of imagery is another thing attract me. In this poem, it repeat "gentle maiden, pure and fair" for four times. The repetition throughout the poem makes the reader feel like the prince was really yearn for the maiden, and the maiden is the only thing that the seeker can see. The onomatapeia of "gwan gwan" is powerful to help reader imagine the image of two fish hawks floating on the "sandbars of the stream," and this give reader a peaceful mood that abundant at the beginning.

In my view, "Fishhawk" is a fantastic poem to analyze. Readers can find the views of ancient China through this work in many ways, such as historical, literary, social and cultural.

The Romantic Egyptian

I'm very enjoying reading the ancient Egypt poems. Before I read the poems, the only thing in my mind about Egypt are Pyramids and Pharaoh. In my opinion, the ancient Egypt poems must be related to religion and hymn to god. However, when I read this section, I found many poems about love, they showed us the emotion and love in ancient Egyptian daily life. I know these poems come from different period of ancient Egypt. The period of the Old Kingdom has the largest and earliest group of poems comes from the pyramids. They include narratives, incantations, and invocations designed to help the Pharaohs' sole on its journey to the other world. In the period of the Middle and New Kingdoms, the poems are lyrics, narratives, and devotional poems.

There is one thing I never think about Egyptian is Romance. In the poem "Love Songs", it tells a story about a man who is in love with a woman he cannot have. He even describes her as a "goddess." He also does not see any flaws of this woman's appearance. This poem deals with the feminine aspects and descriptions of love, showing how women are the epitome of everything that is beautiful in the world. In the poem"I wish I were her Nubian girl", it tells a story about a man wishing he were her servant girl, because the servant would be privy to things that no man could be. Both of these two poems showed that in ancient Egypt, women were treated better than any of the other major civilization including men. After reading these ancient Egypt love poems, I know that love and emotional support were considered to be important for the ancient Egyptian women. Even though thousands of years past, we can still tell the very lovely, romantic story from the scattered fragment.

Gilgamesh!

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient poem from Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literature. It is the representative of the ancient Babylonian Literature, and it originated at the Sumerian period. It is not just the Epic about the mythopoet, because the name Gilgamesh was recorded at the oldest list of the Kings' names, so the Epic has the true stories as the foundation. From the abundant and complex content of this epic, we can tell it not came from only one writer. It is a production of the people living in that period of time. At the beginning, it was carried orally, and later people curved them into twelve different clay tablets. Scholars always devided the epic into four parts based on the plots. The first part describes the epic hero Gilgamesh's brutal rule in the Uruk City, as well as Gilgamesh and Enkidu's friendship. With his power, he forcing city residents to build his city wall, built the temple which led to hard times.People pray to the gods of heaven to save themselves.The create half-human half-animal forms Enkidu to confront with Gilgamesh.After fierce fighting the two sides, regardless of the outcome and they became friends.This part of the hero Gilgamesh criticism than praise component composition. The second part describes Gilgamesh and Enkidu have formed friendships, and benefit to the people as beloved by them.They have defeated the Lions in the desert, killing the forest damage people. The third part of the description of Gilgamesh to explore the "death and life" issues for th long-distance journey. Enkidu are due to offend god and punished by death. Enkidu's sudden deathcaused great grief for Gilgamesh.He recalled the expedition together with Enkidu all the years, feeling that he was distraught. Part four accounted the conversation between Gilgamesh and Enkidu's ghost. Gilgamesh missed Enkidu so much, then he returned to the city, ask the God if he can meet Enkidu's ghost. The Epic of Gilgamesh vividly reflects the history features from primitive society to slave society of the transition period. It shows the life of the ancient Mesopotamia people, and it has a great achievement in terms of both ideology and art.